Attorney General Rutledge signs bipartisan letter urging Congress to protect children and take action on THC copycat products

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge joined a bipartisan letter to Congress urging action regarding copycat THC edibles. These products are designed to look like popular snack items and have increased accidental THC consumption in children. On June 16, the FDA issued a warning stating that between January 1, 2021 - May 31, 2022, National Poison Control Centers received 10,448 single substance exposure cases involving only edible products containing THC. Of these cases, 77% involved patients 19 years of age or younger.

“We must protect young people at all costs especially when these THC products look almost identical to an everyday snack that a child, like my daughter, would eat,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “If you see these lookalike products for sale, report them to my office immediately.”

Widely available, and easily mistaken for name brand snacks such as Oreo cookies, Doritos chips, Cheetos, NERDS, and more, THC copycat products are often unintentionally given to children or mistaken by children for the brand name snack products, resulting in unsuspecting children ingesting large amounts of THC.

The attorneys general letter states that, while they do not all agree on the best regulatory scheme for cannabis and THC generally, they all agree on one thing: copycat

THC edibles pose a grave risk to the health, safety, and welfare of our children.

Congress should immediately enact legislation authorizing trademark holders of well- known and trusted consumer packaged goods to hold accountable those malicious actors who are marketing illicit copycat THC edibles to children.

Attorneys General from Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington signed the letter.